It’s always tough to sum up a set that has the sort of price tag that this one carries; because it doesn’t necessarily offer the collectors value that a Marvel or Star Wars set will offer, it can be a little harder to justify an outlay on, in this case, a few planes and a aircraft hangar. However, if you have a love for the City range, whether it be a nostalgic look back at your childhood, the general consistently-superior design of the range, or simply because your kids want an airport to build, this one has to be recommended. Once I finished building this, I set it up in my daughter’s bedroom, and the overjoyed expression on her face, followed by the extended time taken to play with the planes and flying them all over her room, made every single minute of the build worthwhile. Watching her swirl around her room – and later, the rest of house – clutching the planes and bringing them in for landings into the hangar, reminded me of why I fell in love with LEGO in the the first place; imagination.

Over the years, Lego has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises and even some from video games. These include Batman, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Minecraft. Although some of the licensed themes, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, had highly successful sales, Lego has expressed a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes, and less upon licensed themes related to movie releases.[48]

By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group.[13] It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not versatile.[3] In 1958, the modern brick design was developed; it took five years to find the right material for it, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer.[11][12] The modern Lego brick design was patented on 28 January 1958.[15]
This was bought for my son's 5th birthday. If your kid likes to really play with the sets like mine does (not just bought for building it) be aware that the door of the airplane likes to pop off if it is not opened/closed just the right way with gentle hands. My son is a typical rambunctious boy and is not great at opening/closing things gingerly, so the door presents a bit of a problem for him. He doesn't have the dexterity or patience to snap the two tiny joint pieces onto the little pole just so yet, so whenever the door comes off he gets frustrated and needs help. Which is fine, we help him and he will eventually learn to do it himself, but just wanted to make y'all aware of this in case you have someone who is picky about the door opening and closing easily/correctly :) I know some little ones get fussy about these things!
City is the thematic title under which most Town-related System sets were released from 2005 and onward. There are numerous sets that are associated with Construction, Police, Fire, Emergency, Train, Airport, Transportation, Cargo, Traffic, Coast Guard, Farm, Great Vehicles, Mining, and Space. European catalogs featured another theme called City in the years 1999 to 2000, which was referred to as City Center in American catalogs.
4+ Agents Adventurers Alpha Team Aqua Raiders Aquazone Atlantis Avatar: The Last Airbender Baby Batman Belville Bionicle Cars Castle Dino Dino Attack Exo-Force Fabuland Fusion Games Hero Factory The Hobbit Homemaker Indiana Jones Jurassic World Legends of Chima The Lego Movie The Lord of the Rings Mars Mission Mickey Mouse Mixels Monster Fighters Ninja Paradisa Pharaoh's Quest Pirates Pirates of the Caribbean Power Miners Prince of Persia Quatro Racers RoboRiders Rock Raiders Scooby-Doo The Simpsons Slizer/Throwbots Space Spider-Man Speed Racer SpongeBob SquarePants Sports Spybotics Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Time Cruisers Toy Story Ultra Agents Vikings Wild West World Racers Znap
Attention then shifts to construction of the three aircraft. When I first spied this set I assumed that the two red jets were the same, but closer examination reveals a number of differences. First up is a red jet with a canard wing configuration as seen in the Saab Viggen amongst others. The lower fuselage is fashioned from a number of double and triple inverted 45 degree slopes with a pair of 1 x 14 Technic bricks running through the centre; there’s no obvious reason for Technic bricks to be used in this situation – standard 1 x 14 bricks would have done the job just as well - so I assume that LEGO just happened to have a bunch of them lying around…. A printed black 1 x 2 tile in the cockpit represents the instrument panel, while a substantial air intake is attached on either side of the fuselage at a 90 degree angle by way of brackets.
The construction of the new airport was carried out during 1964 and the airport opened on 1 November, with one runway at 1660 meters in length and 45 meters width, a small platform where aircraft could be served, and a control tower to the controller. Hans Erik Christensen, the former chief pilot at LEGO became director, and the passengers were handled in LEGO's hangar until the first terminal building was opened in the spring of 1966. The airport was continuously expanded the following years, with new facilities, terminal buildings, lounge, tax-free area and hangars where LC Johansen's studio often participated as an architect (today called the Johannsen Architects), while other work was carried out by the airport's own studio.

Yes, the famous franchises will remain the selling point for many a LEGO fan, but for those who spent years of their childhood sitting in their lounges or bedrooms building hospitals – nay, worlds – LEGO City is everything that you could need. And for a set such as this to bring back your childhood, as well as give you a thoroughly enjoyable build experience – and the added bonus of seeing a new generation of excited faces – this is a must-have set and worth every penny.

^ Jump up to: a b Alexander, Ruth (3 December 2012). "How tall can a Lego tower get?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012. The average maximum force the bricks can stand is 4,240N. That's equivalent to a mass of 432 kg (950lbs). If you divide that by the mass of a single brick, which is 1.152g, then you get the grand total of bricks a single piece of Lego could support: 375,000. So, 375,000 bricks towering 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) high is what it would take to break a Lego brick.
Colour-wise, it is mainly yellow, with only a dash of green and red, and a little more white, there to break it up. The worker has space to stand and drive the vehicle, and has a walkie talkie attached on the side of the car. Around the other side is a coiled-up, what I assume is a, fuel pump. It looks pretty good when coiled up on the side of the car. Stickers come into use again here, this time for the number plates.

Structurally, the plane model is sound and very well-built. A little too well-built in some areas you would say, but they are necessary measures like the awkward humps in the interior of the plane you will discover. Space is very wisely used in this model as they’ve managed to fit a proper looking cockpit for 2 pilots and even managed to squeeze in a sink, a mini-bar with the one drink, seats for 6 more passengers and even a tight little space of a washroom. That door hinge though, is a work of art.

Unlike the City set, there is no control tower or truck that services the plane. Instead, there is a passenger check-in/baggage carousel, a rolling staircase to gain access to the plane, plus the airport entrance that includes a gift shop and a café (or, one could argue, something that is very much like many other Friends sets out there). There are only three mini-dolls in this set compared to the six in the City set.

Colour-wise, it is mainly yellow, with only a dash of green and red, and a little more white, there to break it up. The worker has space to stand and drive the vehicle, and has a walkie talkie attached on the side of the car. Around the other side is a coiled-up, what I assume is a, fuel pump. It looks pretty good when coiled up on the side of the car. Stickers come into use again here, this time for the number plates.

City is the thematic title under which most Town-related System sets were released from 2005 and onward. There are numerous sets that are associated with Construction, Police, Fire, Emergency, Train, Airport, Transportation, Cargo, Traffic, Coast Guard, Farm, Great Vehicles, Mining, and Space. European catalogs featured another theme called City in the years 1999 to 2000, which was referred to as City Center in American catalogs.
Bag 6 starts the airport terminal. Like most CITY builds, they are meant for play so it's really only half a building. It includes one minifigure and the revolving door entrance. While the entrance is cool looking, it's about twice the height of a minifigure and there isn't enough physical space for one actually to fit through the door. I'm not a fan of the design.
@DrDave : My thoughts were not that the hangar should be big enough to hold *all* aircraft simultaneously - which would, indeed, make it huge! - but that it should at least be big enough to hold any one of them. Just a few studs wider should cover the wingspan of either jet (judging from the photos). Add a few centimetres to the height - by whatever construction means - and that'll accommodate the oversized tail on the Viggen-styled plane. If/when I pick up this set, that's the mods I'll be making to it.
Young builders and adventurers will love conquering a construction challenge and then taking a trip with LEGO City Airlines. This set features an airport terminal facade with control tower, luggage conveyor belt, revolving doors, and security check. The passenger airplane has a door that opens, a galley, and a lavatory, and there is also a luggage trailer, a fuel trailer, a mobile stairway, and an airport service car. Great for inspiring imaginative play, this impressive set can be combined with others in the LEGO City Airport collection for endless role play and configuration options.
The intelligent brick can be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers, and is downloaded onto the brick via Bluetooth or a USB cable. There are also several unofficial programs and compatible programming languages that have been made to work with the brick, and many books have been written to support this community.[52]
The remainder of the build is the control tower and terminal building. First there is a metal detector screener leading to the waiting/secure area of the airport, which seems taller than it needs to be for the minifigures. I think the same effect could have been made with half the height, except that would not allow for an impressive height for the overall tower. However it does seem to be similar to many modern airports with the high ceilings. This area also seems to be someplace to check luggage as evidenced by the rather nifty conveyor belt that comes in a full part. The moving parts of the set include a revolving door (a very tall one, for the first floor) that leads from the secure area of the airport out to the tarmac, and of course the conveyor belt.